For the first time, Indian carriers inducted more than 100 aircraft in a calendar year. The feat was achieved in 2018. While most planes were Airbus A320Neo, a few Boeing B737 Max planes were also inducted by the airlines.

As per data available, Air India, IndiGo, GoAir, Jet Airways, Vistara, SpiceJet, Alliance Air, Air India Express and Air Asia India collectively inducted 120 planes last year as compared to 88 in 2017.

While IndiGo, GoAir, Vistara and Air India inducted A320Neo aircraft, Jet Airways purchased five Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

At present, Indian carriers collectively own 663 planes. Most of them are owned by IndiGo (206) followed by Air India (125), Jet Airways (124), SpiceJet (73), GoAir (49), Air India Express (25), Vistara (22) Air Asia India (20) and Alliance Air (19).

It also came to the fore that despite frequent glitches and groundings, around 50 Airbus A320Neo planes with Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines were inducted by IndiGo and GoAir in 2018. Moreover, national carrier Air India and Tata-SIA joint venture Vistara also owns A320Neo aircraft in their fleet. However, these aircraft are powered by CFM engines. Last year, Air India and Vistara inducted nine and four Airbus A320Neo aircraft to their respective fleets.

Citing several incidents of mid-air shutdowns of A320Neo aircraft engines with P&W engines, the government on
Friday said it will review the incidents a meeting on Tuesday.

Aviation expert Vipul Saxena said, “The review meeting should have had happened much earlier. I believe the A320Neo aircraft with P&W engines still need to be proven operationally safe. As the Indian aviation sector is growing at a fast pace, the induction of these aircraft will be a challenge to passenger safety. For a while, stringent norms should be imposed on the induction of planes with these engines.”

First Published: Jan 07, 2019 00:06 IST